Emma Roberts Says ‘Quiet on Set’ Haunts Her: ‘It Really Kept Me Up at Night’
Samantha Bergeson
Emma Roberts isn’t staying quiet about being disturbed by the docuseries “Quiet on Set.”
Roberts, who is also a Nickelodeon alum, told Variety on the “Just for Variety” podcast that the ID series “really kept me up at night.” Roberts starred in kids show “Unfabulous” for three seasons; the series concluded in 2007. While Roberts noted that she could not relate to the testimonials captured in “Quiet on Set,” she empathizes with fellow former kid stars.
“I watched [‘Quiet on Set’], and I was completely horrified and shocked because that was not my experience,” Roberts said. “It made me really, really, really sad that that was happening to people that I literally saw often and had no idea.”
The docuseries investigated the years of complaints against Nickelodeon executive Dan Schneider, who worked at the network from 1994 to 2018 before being fired amid harassment allegations.
“For me, my show, ‘Unfabulous,’ the showrunner we had was this amazing woman named Sue Rose. And I didn’t realize at the time, but a female showrunner back then was not very common. But that was my intro into working on a TV show,” Roberts said. “Also, my mom was with me 24/7, and even I would be like, ‘You don’t have to be here all the time,’ she was like, ‘I do actually. I’m not letting you out of my sight. You’re not going to a fitting by yourself when you’re 13 years old.’ It makes me really sad, and I just feel like children need to be protected on sets, as do adults, and I feel like we’re working towards a better work environment in that sense. But yeah, that documentary really kept me up at night.
Along with Roberts, Kenan Thompson and Ariana Grande have reflected on the revelations captured in “Quiet on Set.”
Roberts later told Variety that she had to develop “thick skin” as early as nine years old to survive in Hollywood.
“The one that got away in the beginning was ‘I Am Sam,’ which the amazing Dakota Fanning obviously got. I came close, but the feedback was, ‘You’re a little on the older side,’ and I was nine,” Roberts said.
“To be told you’re on the older side at nine, I was like, ‘There’s my thick skin. It grew right there.'”
